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Thursday, December 4, 2014

UN Resolution: Israel Must Renounce Nuclear Arms

The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved an Arab-backed
resolution Tuesday calling on Israel to renounce possession of nuclear
weapons and put its nuclear facilities under international oversight.

The resolution, adopted in a 161-5 vote, noted that Israel is the only
Middle Eastern country that is not party to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

It called on Israel to "accede to
that treaty without further delay, not to develop, produce test or
otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce possession of nuclear
weapons" and put its nuclear facilities under the safeguard of the
U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency.

The United States, Canada, Palau and Micronesia joined Israel in opposing the measure, while 18 countries abstained.

Israel is widely considered to possess nuclear arms but declines to confirm it.

The resolution, introduced by Egypt, echoed a similar Arab-backed effort
that failed to gain approval in September at the Vienna-based IAEA. At
the time, Israel criticized Arab countries for undermining dialogue by
repeatedly singling out the Jewish state in international arenas.
Israel's U.N. Mission did not immediately return a request for comment
Tuesday.

The U.N. resolution, titled "The risk of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East,"
pushed for the establishment of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the
Middle East and lamented that U.S.-backed efforts to convene talks were
abandoned in 2012.

Israel has long argued that a full Palestinian-Israeli peace plan must
precede any creation of a Mideast zone free of weapons of mass
destruction. The country also argues that Iran's alleged work on nuclear
arms is the real regional threat. Iran denies pursuing such weapons.

General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but carry moral
weight because it is the only body where all 193 U.N. member states are
represented.

U.S. representative Robert Wood, in voting against the resolution at the
committee-level last month, said the measure "fails to meet the
fundamental tests of fairness and balance. It confines itself to
expressions of concern about the activities of a single country."

Wood said the U.S. will continue pushing a Middle East free of weapons
of mass destructions, but he warned that such resolutions only undermine
prospects for progress.